Dallon Weekes – iDKHOW 'More Autobiographical Than I've Ever Been'
After a long gruelling three years, Dallon Weekes’ signature project I Don’t Know How But They Found Me (stylized iDKHOW) has returned with a new masterpiece of an album titled Gloom Division which found Dallon opening up like never before.
To celebrate the new release, we sat down with Dallon and talked Neurodivergence, his fav Aussie slang and all the things that inspired this new era on Gloom Division.
Last time we spoke, it was like the middle of Covid and Razzmatazz was just about to drop. How’s life been treating you since then?
Yeah, a lot’s happened since then. We put a record out into the world at probably the worst time in history, but it managed to work out! We still managed to get some shows in before lockdowns and the plague sort of shut everything down for a long while. But even that time was productive in its own way.
That’s a great outlook to have. The reception of Razzmatazz was great, obviously. People seemed very excited about it. Did you get to sort of feel that with the shows you got to fit in?
It was a worry that I had because we were looking down the barrel of lockdowns right when the record came out. So I didn’t really know what to expect. How do you promote a record when the world is closed, you know, but somehow, it still worked and the fans were still there and it was well received. So we’re incredibly lucky that it worked out the way that it did.
Did that make this time around feel like a breeze in comparison or was it still a stressful process creating the new record?
Still a lot of stress, but unrelated to anything that had happened prior. It was more Legal troubles and paperwork and bureaucracy and just this wall of pure garbage. One thing after the other that turned it into delay, delay, delay. But, we’re finally getting to that point where the record comes out at the end of next month. So I’m really excited that it’s finally happening.
Paperwork and bureaucracy. You know, the typical rock and roll kind of thing.
So rock and roll, yeah. In any rock and roll biopic that you’ll see, they always have that scene where the band’s at a desk and they’re doing all the paperwork.
Exactly. Speaking of the new record, The new single ‘Infatuation’ is fantastic. Can you give us some insight about what that one’s about?
‘Infatuation’ is about indulging in your own ego to the point of neglecting reality and its consequences. Believing your own hype, I guess that goes hand in hand with a pursuit of the arts as a career. You kind of have to have enough ego to believe that what you’re doing is good enough, that, hey, other people should see this, too. This is pretty good. But anything more than that, I think it starts to get a little bit unhealthy. But in this business, especially when you start to see some kind of success, it’s an easy pit to fall into. You have a bunch of people telling you how great and wonderful and amazing you are. But if you start to buy into that, that’s when it starts to become a problem.
What inspired you to write about that?
I’ve lived it. I’ve seen it. I’ve seen other people live it as well. If we’re talking autobiographically. When I was in my early 20s, I was in a band called the Brobeck’s, and we were a big deal in Salt Lake City and kind of regionally, we would tour and we would sell out venues and stuff, and I got to thinking that I was pretty cool, you know, 23 and in a local band. So I’ve definitely had moments where I’ve indulged in my own ego too much, but luckily I had a wife there to keep me in check and bring me back down to earth.
Not to inflate that ego, but you were popular in Australia as well.
If only I had known. Maybe we would have taken a flight over.
Well you have been dropping tour dates recently. Any plans for Australia in the near future?
Not that I know of, but man, I would jump at the chance. I love Australia and it’s been a few years since I’ve been over there. I love Australian culture and music and comedies and movies and TV shows that come out of there. I love your slang. It’s made it’s way into my vocabulary.
Really? What’s your favourite Australian slang word?
Oh, man. Well, my family and I refer to it as Macca’s on an unironic, regular basis. You know, go eat some brekkie for Macca’s. You need to get some gas over at the servo, that sort of stuff.
That’s some pretty authentic vernacular!
I think I’ve just sort of gleaned it casually from consuming your TV and your movies and your music. So there’s something about Australian slang that just sneaks into your subconscious and you find yourself without even thinking about it. It’s quick and it’s to the point. Man, I love it.
Swinging back to the album, we were talking about egos and whatnot. Is that a prevailing theme for gloom division?
The overarching themes for Gloom Division are probably discovering my own neurodivergence over the course of the pandemic; unpacking my whole life and a deconstruction of the way that I was raised and my own personal values and being a little bit more autobiographical than I’ve ever been before.
Discovering that I’ve been masking my whole life and even when I make art, I’ve been wearing this mask, and maybe you poke little holes into the mask when you make a song or make an album and stuff, and you do that as a way to try and share yourself with the world a little bit, but still try to protect yourself. Discovering that about myself, I think affected the way that I made this album at least.
Pulling the mask back and letting all of the noise that’s up here finally just exists somewhere else besides my brain. Hopefully it’s not too overwhelming for the normals.
Was that quite daunting to do, or are you excited and sort of relieved to have that like out in the world?
I guess it’s a really cathartic experience and it is overwhelming, but in such a positive way. When you’re diagnosed with something like ADHD later in life and you’re unpacking your whole entire life, so many things that were a mystery to you before start to make sense. You go, “oh, this is why that happened,” or “This is why this person treated me this way,” or “This is why I ruined that social experience because I didn’t understand”, and now I get it now. It’s really revelatory in a lot of ways and cathartic to be able to have a reason.
Is that something, or, are you nervous to be vulnerable about on an album?
No, because it’s those vulnerabilities that have helped me to connect with other people. It’s helped me to find community. So anybody that would shut you down because of who you are, I don’t want anything to do with. It’s sort of like its own gatekeeper, right?
That’s actually a really nice way to look at it. How did that change the creative process from this album to the last one since this time you’re heading it solo, like, is it more freedom or do you prefer having someone to bounce off of?
I mean, creatively, it’s the same as it ever was. This has always been, creatively speaking, a solo endeavour. But from its inception, I wanted to present it to the world as a band because that was safer. It’s more of that masking that we were talking about. I’ve always wanted to believe in the idea of a band. You share failures and successes with other people, and if you fail at something, you fail together and that kind of softens the blow. So I’ve spent a lot of my life trying very specifically to avoid being a solo artist, because you’re more exposed that way. But circumstances being what they are and have been, I found myself here. And if I’m to proceed down this route, which I absolutely have to do if I’m going to be sane and take care of my family as well, it has to be as a solo artist from now on.
In that case, are there any new inspirations musically that influenced the album?
Yeah, the first thing that came to mind when you said that was actually an Australian band ‘Parcells’ of whom I only discovered within the past year and a half or so. Fantastic band! I got to see them live when they came through town here, and that was very inspiring. So while I was making the record, that’s something that I kept in mind sonically. Not similar necessarily, but, just to see a band like that be so tight and setting themselves apart from what’s current. They’re doing it without any consideration for what’s popular. And that’s very admirable.
Interview by Bree Vane @Briebrebree
iDKHOW’s Gloom Division is out now via Concord Records.
Get it here!
iDKHOW – Gloom Division tracklisting
1. DOWNSIDE
2. GLOOMTOWN BRATS
3. INFATUATION
4. WHAT LOVE?
5. SPKOTHDVL
6. SIXFT
7. FIND ME
8. KISS & TELL
9. A LETTER
10. SATANIC PANIC
11. SUNNYSIDE
12. iDIOTS OF Oz
